A self-driven man, Baibhav Agarwal is the new chair of the Young Indians Kolkata Chapter. A chartered accountant by profession, Agarwal is not just a champion of numbers and keeping accounts but he favours new ideas as well. He joined Young Indians in 2018 and became notably active in the organisation by late 2020. His dedication was evident in his significant contributions to key projects such as Dream Believe Magic (DBM) and Young Indians Finance Initiative (YiFi). In 2023 he was inducted as the co-chair and now as the chair he intends to use different verticals of YI to foster bigger dreams. A t2 chat.
It’s a big responsibility and opportunity as well. How do you aim to approach the new role.
Yes, it’s a big responsibility and opportunity for me. I aim to ignite our passions and dive into this year’s theme: ‘Rediscover the Why’. This is our call to reconnect with our motivations, realign our goals, and collectively push the boundaries of what we can achieve. Together, we are unstoppable and I focus on making it a year of discovery, growth, and unparalleled success for each one of us individually and the chapter overall.
You have held the role of co-chair and observed the workings and the potential of the organisation from close quarters. What will be your focus areas now and tell us about your achievements so far.
At Yi, we strive towards nation-building. We have multiple verticals in the chapter and some of our main initiatives this year will be around health with particular attention on mental wellness, drug abuse and glaucoma testing. Through Rural Initiatives we are uplifting villages by installing biogas plants, rainwater harvesting projects to provide clean drinking water and training them for entrepreneurial skill sets. With Climate Change, we are doing pond rejuvenation, tree plantation and waste segregation. With Masoom we are focusing on safe and unsafe touch for kids. With Entrepreneurship we will be imparting financial literacy to kids and with Accessibility, we are launching Braille menus across F&B outlets and running a campaign for employment of specially-abled individuals.
Earlier I was heading the Rural Initiatives vertical where one of the most significant projects we did was to install a sanitary pad manufacturing unit where we are making 30,000 biodegradable pads every month in Godhkhali in the Sundarbans. We also put up a stitching unit where we deployed women and they’re currently proud entrepreneurs.
On the professional front, you are a chartered accountant and also big on entrepreneurship. How do you intend to capitalise on these two to benefit YI and the state and country at large?
Yes, I am a CA and I want to leverage ICAI and bring them on board as a knowledge partner. In fact, we onboarded ICAI-EIRC as one of our Yuva verticals and we are doing multiple awareness sessions with them. There are two big things coming up with them — a mentorship programme and a big entrepreneurial and financial conclave with them named YiFi.
A chairman’s position demands time and commitment. How do you intend to balance work life and YI life?
It’s been really tough but I am trying to balance it to the best of my capabilities. I start my day at 4am, which is helping me set priorities at work. Having a fantastic and dedicated executive committee has been extremely beneficial to Yi. Moreover, I’ve been enjoying every moment of it and this truly is making it easier for me to balance my work and Yi life.
Youngsters today are very active and aspirational with some great ideas at their disposal. How do you want to cater to this section and fuel their passion?
We have an Entrepreneurship vertical and Innovation vertical and we enable youth to come forward and involve them in fruitful sessions. In fact, this time we are planning to do a hackathon and also a mentorship programme for them. We are also looking at doing ‘pitch sessions’ with the youth where we will have a jury to judge them, and a few of the best ones will be incubated and accelerated.
What kind of events, big and small, can we expect during your tenure?
We want to ensure that all our verticals make a powerful and meaningful impact towards nation-building in some way or the other with varied events throughout the year. We will host multiple speakers, phenomenal workshops, peer-to-peer learning sessions and the likes. Another highlight of the year is Yi Championship that will bring an array of sporting and non-sporting events for the members. We will also have socials for networking and unwinding with some retreats to strengthen bonds amongst members.